Turn Windows Vista into Mac OS X visually

Microsoft pimped up Windows Vista quite a bit when you compare it visually to Windows XP. It seems to me that they have put lots of resources into the design which probably should have gone elsewhere but that's my personal opinion. If you run Windows Vista and like the way OS X is designed you could install Vista OS X which transforms the Windows Vista theme to that of Mac OS X.

The Mac OS X theme can be installed on all 32-bit editions of Windows Vista and is fully Service Pack 1 compatible. UAC has to be disabled before installation, it will fail otherwise. The user is asked during installation to check the elements that he wants to install. He can choose eight elements in total that include Screensavers, Wallpapers, the Visual Style or the Dock.

I suggest you check all of them to make sure you get the full OS X design. Minimalists will have to check at least the System Files and the Visual Style to be installed. The System Files contain the uxtheme patch which is necessary to apply the visual theme and additional new designs for the boot screen, welcome center, buttons and so on.

The Windows Vista OS X visual style comes with an uninstaller that completely removes the theme from the system again.

Update: Downloads are no longer available for this total conversion package. I have found an alternative though that you can download instead. Vista OS X 09 VS is available on the designers Deviant Art page where you can download it from. It has a size of less than 1 Megabyte and I highly recommend you create a system backup or at least a system restore point before you install the theme on your system.

The theme itself comes as a Windows visual style file which means that you need to patch Windows system files before you can install it.

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About Martin Brinkmann

Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand.You can follow Martin on Facebook, Twitter or Google+

About an hour after I installed this, Windows Defender ran a quick scan and found a Trojan.Dumper. I confirmed this later with ClamWin Anti-Virus. This is the first virus I’ve had in over a year, so I’m pretty darn sure it came from this download. Especially since the Trojan was located in the Install Shield directory under Program Files. First time gHacks has, potentially, let me down. Otherwise no harm was done and the rest of the site’s content is awesome, keep up the good work.

hi dboi. I had the same problem, the programm didnt create a restore point and now, I can’t either remove vista os x totally from my computer nore i can’t setup the osx theme and my sidebar and taskbar are grey and i cant change it. please help…

In my opinion. This is horrible. The help didn’t even help me. To uninstall, it told me to go to the vista os x folder. What God Damned Folder? In Windows/Resources/Themes ? In Program Files? Now Im stuck with this theme, and can’t get rid o it with system restore. ‘Safe Installer’ my arse!

installed okay,but didnt like it,no transparencey.used the uninstall,which said it is now uninstalled,when restarted windows, still have oxs bootsceen,logon, welcome screens,and ugly folder icons even in animated start panel icons.tried recovery,deleted all the folders i could find,and its still there,if you are just curious like i was,do not install this program.

Installing this software to my Vista OS caused me every problem! First off, it doesn’t do what it claims to and it leaves the system to look like awful… and second it doesn’t unistall itself from your system even if you use they provided uninstaller!

I suggest that you do NOT install this. There are many flaws in this and the uninstallers both (the one in the Vista OS X folder and the Vista OS X website) don’t do ANYTHING. Now my computer’s crapped up so whatever you do, do NOT use this no matter what!

Actually, I found a Trojan in this too. Avast! Anti-Virus found it as Firefox was finishing downloading it. Here’s the log:

7/23/2008 8:34:37 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\leftsider2.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:15:47 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\main.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:10 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\screensaver.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:12 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\spaces2.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:13 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\systemfiles.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:14 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\wallpaper.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:14 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\deinstall.exe\uninstall.exe” file. 7/23/2008 10:16:22 PM SYSTEM 1672 Sign of “Win32:Agent-AAJA [Trj]” has been found in “D:\Users\Talon\Downloads\VistaOSX.exe.part\deinstall.exe\uninstallsys.exe” file.

No comments about v3. Did someone try the new version (V4)… maybe a good video will be cool to see before installation and the official site only delivers snapshots. But at this link http://fr.youtube.com/user/edvdesign we can see a good demo of OS X integrated in VISTA.

Actually, I just noticed that v4 is the version I tried. From every official mirror I download it from, Avast finds that it contains several Trojans, and if I continue installing, I get several errors. If I click Continue on all of them, the installer seems to continue like it should, and eventually tells me to reboot. But, of course, when I restart, everything is exactly the same as it was before. I’ve looked in the Themes folder, and in the mouse cursors, but nothing new is there.

i have downloaded this transformation pack a thousand times and i cannot install it. I keep getting a message in dutch (i think) and the installation stops. here is the message: einige dateien konnten nicht erstellt werden. Bitte Schlieben sie alle anwendunngen, startie sie windows neu und starten sie die installation erneut. If anyone has a solution to this please, please help me out. PS: i also noticed that this file has a virus ( a trojan) thanks,

* WARNING * vista osx has many viruses not just one…. V4 came with like 7 viruses that avast picked up “thankfully” – i understand this is V3 but same company and i got mine from the original site ((use caution)) if there is any doubt iam lieing than download avast free version and scan before install… presto multiple viruses you could have been in danger from… hope this helps u guyz :) F#@king virus givers need to do life in prison

I installed VistaOX about 6 months ago. I haven’t had any problems and it is great for people who like the look of OS X but still like the functionality of Windows. I didn’t get any viruses whatsoever (and I’m running 3 virus programs)so I believe it is safe. Another thing for you whiny people who are like “after I uninstalled it it messed up my system”, if you didn’t want it permanently, then why install it? To Waste Your Life Maybe? Other Than That I Think The Software is great for my laptop (Toshiba with 2GB RAM and 160GB HDD(running Windows Vista Home Premium SP1)). Also, just a note, doesn’t interfere with the downloading of windows automatic updates either.

to publishers: you guys are idiots…i mean the guys who posted this stuff and claim that it will work on WINDOWS when its only compatible with APPLE…whats suspectible is that the publishers claim that you take actions to disable the UAC whereas you shouldnt simply because the UAC detects what is being downloaded

AND those “posters” keep putting in the same lines of text explaining what it does and how to do it along with their informal intentions that they have not tried it out yet – whereas in this case they only sstate that they havent tried it is because they know there’s a high level threat of a trojan seeking into your computer which would most likely affect some majot files and cause major damage

and lastly beware YOU CANNOT REPLACE WINDOWS WITH APPLE – in this case only the MAC OSX can be run on apple, never on windows

and why do you need to disable UAC to install it? because if you do disable UAC thats where the viruses are planted and its where the password to protect your username is stored making it seem that that’s wheere the newer files are stored..aka the viruses,a nd trojans

and where they stated that you can uninstall it it just informs you of what you can do..it doesnt seem to explain how its done…making it more like a virus because the virus doesnt want to be removed

the purpose of this program is to trick people into thinking its a MAC based OS when its a virus but just looks like a mac…

I just installed this last night on a new Vista laptop, as per the installation instructions I rebooted the OS and now I have nothing – the system hangs upon booting up and can’t even get it to run in safe mode! Any suggestions would be appreciated! please help – I need my laptop for an important project this weekend!

i recommend not to download this either. if your want your vistas looking like macs, i suggest you download other mac os themes from other sites. theyre way better too! visit vistaknowledge.com! youll find awesome themes there!

Well, I use Mac at school and Vista at home, but the Exit/Minimize/Restore/Maximize buttons are supposed to be at the left-top corner, not at the right-top corner, also when you see a sign light, it has the colors at this order:

Red. Yellow. Green.

Not:

Yellow. Green. Red.

The rest (The accept, cancel buttons and that CRAP) are exactly the same.

Did any of you who said? this theme is acting as a trojan, changing system files, like screensaver and others. SO before you complain about trojans think about this. this program works perfectly as long as you dont freak out too quickly…

Well, I’d like to apologize to the authors of this great Transformation Pack. My earlier post said that there was a virus in it, but I just re-downloaded it from your website, disabled my anti-virus, and everything went perfectly. I’ve reinstalled Vista since my last post, it may have had something to do with that. Anyway, great work!

it works very well & it looks so nice! thanks a lot but still i have some minor problems like my windows taskbar is still showing & my finder is not working its still looking for rk launcher? what im gonna do? thnaks again guys for a wonderful job!

This looks pretty nice once you get it all set up, however, there is no uninstall executable where it says there is! So, I switched themes, and deleted all the files in the folder where all the files were, restarted, and now my desktop and explorer.exe don’t work! I’m very upset about this because Now I can’t back anything up before I reinstall windows. =[ Thanks a lot guys =D

I installed this and a virus or something got my computer and totally ruined it!! It turns on just fine and shows the start up screen, but then the screen turns black and all I can see is my mouse. This was a stupid mistake on my part for downloading this piece of shit, virus filled program.

how do i install it i cnt get onto any windows program (pictures control panel etc music n all that in the same windows window cnt get onto anythin n obviously i need control panel to delete it so i cnt get onto it even limewire dnt work anymore how do i get on it.. i wana delete it n cnt any suggestions email me please emzi4lyfe@hotmail.com

I installe this onto my ‘Windows Vista (x64) OS’ (I can hear the sighs right now… Yes it is a x64, but who knows, one day they might make it big) and I ran the uninstaller. It corruped a boot file and now I have to use the ‘Packard Bell System Restore’ (Yes… It’s a Packard Bell too) It’s caused me so much bother, just becuase it was taking up room it stoped my PC from booting up properly.

I downloaded it, scanned it with Avast, installed it. All was clean and going good. Then like “ryann” said, it was acting like a trojan. It slowed down the crap outta my computer. Took me 2 minutes to open my C drive! I think this is a bad download.

the funny thing about this is that it will take over your comp. at a random time. i gave it a chance twice and it kept doing the same thing. it installs it into all the system restore points so you cant go back until u get a new comp. or a new OS. if you want to look like a mac comp., GET ONE!!! or learn the hard way.

Well I Tried It On My Vista With Home Basic And I Like It But The Buttons Werent What THey Was Supposed To Be And It Crashed My Computer SO Unless U Have A Computer That Can Handle It…Which Is I Dont Know All I Had at The Time Was An Acer…But Unless Ur Computer Can Take IT Dont Download….just Ask Ur Computer It Will Let U Know Somehow If It Can Handle IT

Why??? I can’t use my computer anymore!! It was a virus!! Not I have to restart my computer completely!! I will lost every file such as games and app!!! I’m a good friend and I’m telling u DO NOT DOWNLOAD IT!!! Is fake!!

I installed it but I lost the theme and so I decided to uninstall it. I deleted the program file but I am stuck on classic view. I can’t apply themes. I tried the control panel but it stays classic. Also, when it starts up it says vista osx on startup. Windows explorer keeps going unresponsive and I have to wait ages for a few seconds when it works and I can use it. I just want to get my themes back and windows explorer working.

This is some fucked up shit man. It caused my computer to fuck up and now i’ve got to go to a computer cafe until i afford a knew one, after it told me to reboot my computer wouldn’t come back and i only just brought it like last week i had no viruses as i never downloaded anything apart from Mozilla firefox, comodo, and avast but that was the day i got it. i brought norton as well so i could be extra secure. As soon as i downloaded this thing and all 3 of the anti-virus came up with the same Trojans there was about 8 of them. Whenever i restart it, it just stays on a black screen forever it doesn’t change one bit, but before it does that it restarts itself like 3 times.

Trend Micro Titanium Keeps Blocking Me. So I Guess This Has A Virus. I Really Want A Ma c But i cant afford One. So I Search And Serach For Download Mac OS X To My Computer. But Everything i try Is a virus. I Just Wish I Could Find Something To Make my pc Look Like a mac. Becuase Mac’s Are Expensive

Viruses? no. Unless you are downloading a fake version. If your virus software is detecting viruses, it’s likely a false positive. Because nowadays virus software is keyed to check for software that alters system files, without regard to intent. Also if the software is unsigned (ie. the vendor didn’t pay for MS’s seal of approval) or if it is zipped with certain programs, they set off alarms.

As far as the alterations themselves, my computer would not restart after and I had to restore from a solid black screen in safe mode. (Ctrl-alt-del, start process for system restore or something. I don’t remember.) In the end I used 7-zip and resource hacking tools to extract the parts I liked and toss the rest.

This is true not only did viruses show up, which came to my attention through Windows Defender & AVG, but after I installed it it seemed to be using up A LOT of my CPU with RKLuancher. Now the biggest problem I am facing is uninstalling it. The worst part is that the Vista OSX website no longer exists.

About gHacks

Ghacks is a technology news blog that was founded in 2005 by Martin Brinkmann. It has since then become one of the most popular tech news sites on the Internet with five authors and regular contributions from freelance writers.